Ultraseven
|start-ep = The Invisible Challenger |last-ep = The Greatest Invasion in History (Conclusion) |intro = Ultraseven no Uta |airdate = October 1, 1967 - September 8, 1968 |previous = Ultraman |next = Ultra Fight }} is the third installment of the Ultra Series. Produced by Tsuburaya Productions and TBS, it was broadcast from October 1, 1967 to September 8, 1968 on TBS, with a total of 49 episodes. It became one of Japan's greatest fantasy TV series, with average ratings of over 36%. Such is his popularity that Ultraseven (or simply "Seven") has appeared or at least made cameos in nearly every series following his own and has had far more exposure than even the original Ultraman (though the original Ultraman is without a doubt the face of the Ultras). Ultraseven is sometimes incorrectly called "Ultraman Seven" by many sources outside Japan (or in the case of KHON/Honolulu, Hawaii, Ultra 7, as listed in when it ran in 1975). Both the series and its hero can also be called Ultraseven (without a space), which is generally the form used when romanized and also when in use by Tsuburaya in merchandise. Plot In the not-too-distant future, the Earth finds itself constantly under attack from extraterrestrial threats. To combat them, the TDF (Terrestrial Defense Force) establishes the , a team of six elite members who utilize high-tech vehicles and weaponry. Joining their fight is the mysterious Dan Moroboshi who is secretly an alien from the Land of Light in Nebula M78, Ultraseven. Characters Ultras Allies *TDF **Ultra Garrison ***Kaoru Kiriyama ***Anne Yuri ***Shigeru Furuhashi ***Soga ***Amagi **Yamaoka **Takenaka **Manabe **Captain Kurata **Professor Kitamura **Ueno *Capsule Monsters **Windam (1, 24, 39) **Miclas (3, 25) **Agira (32, 46) Monsters & Aliens *Alien Cool (1) *Alien Wyann (2) **Organism X (2) *Alien Pitt (3) *Eleking (3) *Alien Godora (4) *Alien Villa (5) *Alien Pegassa (6) *Alien Quraso (7) *Alien Metron (8) *Alien Chibull (9) *Zero One (9) *Alien Icarus (10) *Alien Wild (11) *Nurse (11) *Alien Spell (12) *Alien Iyros (13) **Furuhashi and Amagi duplicates (13) *King Joe (14, 15) *Alien Pedan (14, 15) *Annon (16) *U-Tom (17) *Alien Bell (18) *Gumonga (18) *Suflan II (18) *Space Plants (18) *Ticks of the False Space (18) *Alien Bud (19) *Alien Shaplay (20) *Giladorus (20) *Alien Mimy (Voice only; 21) *Ironrocks (21) *Alien Black (22) *Alien Shadow (23) *Gabura (23) *Alien Cannan (24) *Gandar (25) *Alien Poll (25) *Gyeron (26) *Alien Borg (27) *Alien Kill (28) *Dinosaur Tank (28) *Alien Prote (29) *Alien Plachiku (30) *Dally (31) *Rigger (32) *Shadow Men (33) *Alien Uley (Only their settings; 33) *Alien Mandala (Only their settings; 33) *Dancan (34) *Petero (35) *Alien Zamppa (35) *Alien Pega (36) *Alien Magellan "Maya" (37) *Alien Banda (Mentioned and their ship appears; 38) *Crazygon (38) *Alien Guts (39, 40) *Aron (39) *Tepeto (41) *Alien Tepeto (41) *Nonmalt (42) *Guyros (42) *Robot Commander (43) *Robots of the Fourth Planet (43) *People of the Fourth Planet (43) *Alien Goron (44) *Gorry (44) *Alien Perolynga (45) *Robot Ultraseven (46) *Alien Salome (46) *Alien Hook (47) *Pandon (48, 49) **Reconstructed Pandon (48, 49) *Alien Ghose (48, 49) Arsenal *Ultra Eye *Video Seaver *Ultra Gun *Electro H Gun *Ultra Hawk No. 1 *Ultra Hawk No. 2 *Ultra Hawk No. 3 * *Ultra Guard Episodes # # # # # # # # # # # # Episode 12 was later banned from broadcast in Japan due to concerns that the episode's featured aliens, portrayed as disfigured creatures afflicted with radiation sickness and burns, would be offensive to survivors of the atomic bomb drops in Japan during . Officially, Tsuburaya Productions refuses to acknowledge this episode's existence. However, the episode has been aired and/or dubbed in overseas adaptations of the series. # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # Movies # (Movie version of episode 18) # Cast * , : * : * : * : * : * : * : * : * : * : * : , * : * : * : Suit actors * , : * : (1), (24), (39) * : (3), (25) * : (32) Songs ;Opening theme * **Lyrics: Kyoichi Azuma **Composition & Arrangement: Toru Fuyuki **Artist: Misuzu Children's Choral Group, The Echoes ;Insert theme * **Lyrics: Kyoichi Azuma **Composition & Arrangement: Toru Fuyuki **Artist: Tokyo Meister Singer *"ULTRA SEVEN" **Lyrics: Kyoichi Azuma **Composition & Arrangement: Toru Fuyuki **Artist: The Echoes * **Lyrics: Kyoichi Azuma **Composition & Arrangement: Toru Fuyuki **Artist: Misuzu Children's Choral Group TPS/Cinar English dub In 1985, Turner Program Services licensed the series in a 15-year contract from Tsuburaya Productions, who provided the English dubbed versions produced in Honolulu by Tsuburaya-Hawaii, Inc. in the mid-1970s. Finding this English version to be lacking, Turner commissioned the Canadian children's programming production house, Cinar, to dub all 49 episodes for run in syndication. The TPS/Cinar produced episodes featured new opening and closing credits, eye-catches, new episode names, and even a change of name for the character of Anne Yuri, who was dubbed as "Donna". Cinar edited the episode for violence and commercial time, and featured new music cues. The tone of the English Dubbing scripts were decidedly tongue-in-cheek. Unsatisfied with Cinar's resultant work, Turner put the series into their vaults until 1994, when they were alerted that the episodes were never broadcast. ''Ultraseven was dusted off for the Toons 'Till Noon and MonsterVision blocks on . The Toons 'Till Noon broadcasts received substantially heavy editing to make them suitable for the time slot, while the MonsterVision broadcasts were the full-length Cinar adaptations. Episodes 5-7 were missing or mislabeled, and were never broadcast. When the contract expired in 2001, Turner returned all the materials (film, tapes, masters) to Tsuburaya Productions. Cinar Version Episode Titles # Enter Dan Moroboshe # Shrubs From Space # Secret of the Lake # Double Trouble At Sea # N/A # N/A # N/A # Smokers On The Rampage # Toys In Crisis # The Man Next Door # Captured In Living Color # Crystallized Corpusels ( Banned Episode 12 ) # Space Ace Reunion # Planets In Conflict Part 1 # Planets In Conflict Part 2 # The Eyes Have Had It # Cave-In # The Bells Are Ringing # Wayne, Lord Of The Universe # The Quakemaker # Nissans Return Engagement # Chromosone Eaters # Fugitive Fortune Teller # Mother Knows Best # Ultra-7 Exposed # The 8,000 Megaton Mistake # Temporary Traitor # Death On Wheels # The Apprentice Alien # Trial By War # Blood-Thirst # Island In The Sky # The Dead Invaders # Urban Removal # Moon-Stuck # Sharp Shooter Showdown # Devil's Angel # Brave One # Ultra-7 - Tastes Defeat Part 1 # Ultra-7 - Tastes Defeat Part 2 # Killer Lake # The Boy By The Lake # Design By Tyranny # Stargazer # Simian Says Surrender # Dan And The Ultra-7 Challenge # Home Sweet Home # Exit Ultra-7 Part 1 # Exit Ultra-7 Part 2 Home media In 2012, Shout! Factory obtained the North American license to subtitle Ultraseven in English, and released it for sale on their website with a special Ultraseven poster (illustrated by ), only available for shipping within the US and Canada. The original Episode 12, however, was not available (so it could not be included), therefore the total number of episodes in this release was 48. On December 11, 2012 Shout! Factory made the set available through regular retailers. Bandai Visual issued the series on Blu-ray in Japan as two separate sets with the first released on November 21, 2014 and the second on January 28, 2015. Differences from the original Ultraman Ultraseven was not only visually different from the first Ultraman (being mostly red with a removable crest/weapon and more 'boxy'-looking eyes), but often faced numerous moral and ethical dilemmas. On one occasion, he was forced to break a promise Dan had made to a young boy who was undergoing an operation in order to protect the hospital from a monster. On another occasion, he was forced to battle the sole survivor of a small planet that was destroyed by a careless weapons test, making him wonder if he was fighting for a worthy cause. On yet another occasion, as Dan, he desperately tried to contact the inhabitants of a space faring city before it was destroyed by the Ultra Garrison, to keep it from crashing into Earth. Also, Ultraseven did not possess a mortally injured human to use as his host but instead used his powers to scan a brave human that he had saved from being fatally injured and used that human as a template to create a human form for him to shift into. Thus, Dan Moroboshi literally IS Ultraseven while the original Ultraman would instead merge into the body of Shin Hayata to make two beings into one. However the consequence of Ultraseven transforming into a human form is that catastrophic injuries he receives as Ultraseven can and will pass on to his human form of Dan Moroboshi. This was shown best in the opening episode of Ultraman Leo when Ultraseven was badly beaten by a tag team of two monsters and their alien master, with one of the monsters breaking his right leg. After he reverted to his human form, the injuries were still there and as a result of the injuries as well as the severe energy drain he suffered, Dan was unable to transform back into Ultraseven and his Ultra Eye was damaged in the process. Ultraman Leo, Ultraman 80 and Ultraman Mebius also used their powers to create a human form to transform into and thus they also would share this same weakness as Ultraseven. Video game A game based on the series was produced by Bandai in 1993 for the with the name Ultraseven. Notes *Ultraseven and the original Ultraman have been the only two Ultramen to have a remake of the series. Ultraman had 1 and Ultraseven had 3 remakes. *One of few soundtracks of this series would be used again later in Ultraman Ace, Ultraman Leo and Ultraman 80. *''Ultraseven'' has 2 episodes banned: episodes 12 (banned in ) and 26 (banned in 2011 ). **Due in part to the ban, the 12th episode is not on the Region 1 DVD release by Shout! Factory. However, the recently banned 26th episode was released and can be seen on this set. *''Ultraseven'' was originally intended to be the last installment of the Ultra Series. It's immense popularity proved otherwise. *Clips of Ultraseven were shown on an episode of , with the host trying to get guest to help "MST" them. *This series was originally going to be named "Ultra Eye". References Bibliography *Ragone, August (2007, 2014). [http://www.chroniclebooks.com/titles/eiji-tsuburaya-master-of-monsters-paperback.html/ Eiji Tsuburaya: Master of Monsters]. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books. ISBN 978-0-8118-6078-9. *Ragone, August (2012). "The Making of Ultraseven" booklet [https://www.shoutfactory.com/tv/kids-family/ultra-seven-the-complete-series/ Ultraseven: The Complete Series]. Los Angeles, CA: Shout! Factory. ASIN B0096W46VW. External links *'' '' at Wikipedia